2 (2), 2001

From the Editor
Dear readers of TOJDE,
Welcome to the fourth issue of The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE,
which is an online publication of the Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey. Some of my
thoughts are well known from the back issue's readers of TOJDE which mentioned main idea
and sprit of TOJDE why appeared in the literature. I would like offer to you for detail to click
"Back Issues" buton oh the home hage and please look the note of me, titled as "from
editor" for to understand brief explanation of TOJDE" philosophy

IGNOU came into existence in the year 1985 with a mandate to democratize higher
education by a diversity of means using traditional and new technologies. The university has
achieved many milestones in a short span of 15 years existence in terms of courses and
programmes introduced, instructional technologies adopted and student services offered.
Above all it has enrolled a large number of students achieving a 'mega open university'
status. Since 1998 IGNOU has introduced virtual education, with a few academic
programmes pertaining to Computer and Information Sciences in two phases. In order to
assess the 'Virtual Campus' initiative a study was initiated by the researchers in the year
2000. The findings of which have been discussed in this paper. Also background information
about the trends in the development and delivery of academic programmes through Virtual
Campus at IGNOU have been explained.

TELMAE Online courses were developed during the project, funded by the Ministry
of Education, Czech Republic. The courses consisted of 5 modules, focused mainly
on existing Virtual learning environments, tools for communication and
collaboration, tools for controlling and monitoring student’s progress, etc.
More then 70 university teachers and 11 tutors from different countries (Czech
Republic, Norway, Canada, Australia and UK) have been participating in 3 runs of
online courses (from November 2000 till March 2001). Some statistical results, the
experience, sustainability and internationalization is described in the paper.

Information technology has become central in flexible learning in view of the
paradigm shifts occurring in delivery of teaching and learning materials, as well as
the vast numbers of distance education students, both in Australia and overseas to
whom such experiences need to be made accessible in the most pedagogically
sound ways. This report presents the development of the delivery of an
undergraduate unit from a traditional to online and student-managed format.
Findings of the surve are support the efficacy of web-supported learning, which has
evolved into a student-managed learning system over the reported successive
applications in teaching of a core undergraduate unit at IEC.
Based on this experience and supported with the presented results, it is argued that
IT offers not only supportable, but potentially very positive teaching and learning
outcomes, provided that the process is seen as a flexible one by the teaching teams.
Careful attention to student feedback, giving conceptually sound pedagogy priority
over the use of IT for its own sake, and reviewing, reflecting and revising such
experiences appear to be at the heart of the matter: online learning and teaching
may have been the tempting flavour of the decade; it can be the heart of quality in
teaching in the new millennium.

In this paper we propose a distance education model for Turkish universities to
accommodate more students in tertiary education. The model is based on the
distance education that has successfully been employed at Charles Sturt University,
Australia. We also discuss issues related to web based distance education such as
assessment, use of communication technology and course materials to be
developed. Benefits of partnership between industry and education institutions are
highlighted.

Cameron University has recently developed a degree in MultiMedia Design, focused on
developing computer based instructional materials. Multimedia Industry leaders have
advised us that the foremost skill lacking in recent nation-wide graduates is the ability to
work in teams. With this new degree, students spend a lot of time in front of a computer,
authoring tutorials and developing presentations.
Communication skills can quickly be lost; therefore collaborative projects are embedded in
the curriculum for each class. One class I teach is Web Communications and Design.
(http://www.cameron.edu/~karenh/MM2034)
Students from a variety of disciplines enroll in this class. The class is web-based and can be
accessed at any time, but to meet the goal of teamwork communication skills, I structure
four to five member development teams. Part of the student's real-world experience
includes an individual assignment to develop a web site for a Cameron University faculty
member or Lawton business.

The new concept of learner-centredness has evolved as a contemporary counter to
the traditional teacher-centred approach to education which has been authoritative
in nature. There is now a shift in focus to the learner which in part has grown out of
our dissatisfaction with traditional approaches that are based on the notion of
giving/transmitting a predetermined body of knowledge to the learner who is
treated as an object.
The shift reflects a desire to explore ways of making teaching responsive to learner
needs & interests and allowing learners to play a fuller, more active and
participatory role in the day-to-day teaching/learning processes. This inclination
towards a more learner-centred approach to teaching/learning is not the outcome
of a single structured school of thought. Educators and technical psychologists have
focused on the learner and the learning processes from different perspectives.
Learner-centred approach to teaching/learning can be said to be an outcome of an
integration of overlapping and sometimes different perspectives on teaching/
learning.

The Internet which connects about 200 million people and millions of pages, voice ,
sound, image and video files has become a most powerful tool in the hands of those
who know how to navigate it .The opportunity to use this powerful tool exists and is
open to most strata of the population, regardless of the limitations of age, education,
etc. Though the opportunity exists what actually happens is that the gap between
Internet surfers and those who are not knowledgeable in Internet skills, is ever
growing. The gap is widening between youngsters, the primary Internet user
population, and adults and mostly seniors,who are not skilled at using a computer or
the Internet.

Anadolu University began distance education applications and TV broadcasting related to
this concept on 1982-1983 academic year. 3-d (three dimensional) computer animation
techniques started TV be used in educational TV programs on1989, the same year when the
Animation Department was established. The Animation Department, which was orginally
found under the name Electronic Graphics is formed so as to benefit from the production and
expression advantages of 3-d computer animation techniques which became wide-spread
through technological improvements.
By this study it is aimed to point out how and where 3-d computer animation techniques can
be put into work usefully during the process of the production of TV educational programs of
Anadolu University OEF. Besides this general goal, to state the position, importance and
production levels of animation can be expressed as a sub-goal of the study.
This study is limited with the usage of 3-d computer animation on educational TV programs
of OEF.

This book is edited by Dr. V. Venugopal Reddy and Dr. Manjulika Srivastava who are well
known with their studies on distance education. Total of fifty-nine papers took place on the
book. The authors of the papers are from many different countries and they are both
designers and managers of distance training or they are studying on theoretical and
practical aspects of distance education.
The book contains fifty-nine papers in three major parts. Many of the papers contains tables
and figures supporting the data given in the texts. In addition to this, the book also includes
the list of all contributers, list of acronyms and abbreviations that ara used in the book and
an author index. At the end of every paper the references takes place.
Before the major parts a paper written by the editors takes place. In this paper named
“Open and Distance Learning in Transition” the editors present their own point of views and
definition of distance education and technology and they point out the currnt trends in this
field supporting them with some tables. After this they discuss what might be the future
trends are.

This book is edited by Badrul H. Khan who is an associate professor in George Washington
University and director of Educational Technology leadership cohort graduate program in the
same university. In this book sixty-three papers took place. The authors of the papers are
mostly from USA and Canada. There are authors from Korea, Brazil, Holland, Australia and
New Zealand too. In addition to this the editor of the book Badrul H. Khan is also the author
of three papers and co-author of four papers. At the end of each paper the e-mail and Web
homepage addressess of authors takes place. This gives the readers the opportunity to
discuss about the matters in every paper or ask questions.

Stressing the importance of maintaining Distance Education practically, operationally, and in
perfect fashion, Goels, in their present book, emphasize that it (Distance Education) can
provide general as well as professional education required for the development in all sectors
in the 21st century or new millenium. Due to continuous increase in the population and
scarcity of infrastructure, financial, physical, and personnel resources, there occur some
inherent and external problems in imparting formal education and training. And, it is
distance education that, through the latest technology, can overcome these problems and
limitations owing to its inherent potentialities. Besides, Goels rightly point out a great need
to shift our focus from the traditional education system to `distance education system' so
that we may take full advantage of new knowledge media and technology effectively.